How the UK recycles millions of dirty old disposable coffee cups

Appoint a minister for innovation

This article was first published in the July 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online

You are about to be visited by the shop stewards of the innovation trades union movement, among them university vice chancellors, research scientists, technology entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, each claiming that they hold the key to economic dynamism. You should ignore them, at least for the moment, so you can work out what and who government innovation policy should be for.

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The short answer is that you should focus resolutely on the needs of the squeezed middle classes. They are working harder than ever to see their disposable income barely rise. Many fear their children will be worse off than them. For example, creating a decent, national, living wage –or, more radically, a universal basic income of the kind being debated in Switzerland – would be one of the best ways to underpin the incomes and so the buying power of the squeezed middle.

In Germany's greenest city, Freiburg, for example, the best-insulated apartments cost €50 a year to heat, thanks to mainly local, renewable-energy sources.

When I spent last summer talking to London families getting by on a household income of £33,000, many made a little go a long way, by, say, turning to the sharing economy for what they need -- such as a car -- without owning it, and by renting out idle assets to make a little extra. Many are now augmenting their earnings in the Uber and Airbnb economy. You need to jump start this by setting out a different story of innovation. Current disruption can be quite unpleasant if you have few opportunities to find alternative employment with similar wages and benefits.

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The innovative, hi-tech sectors need a generative story of socially useful innovation, which creates new jobs and augments existing ones, while using new technologies to solve median-income households problems such as the rising costs of energy, housing, transport, health and childcare.

So what should you do? Focus on making life affordable for families. Create a prize of up to £5m for someone to come up with the equivalent of Airbnb to increase the availability of flexible, high-quality, affordable childcare. Create government-backed Granny Loans, like ultra-low-cost student loans, for grandparents to spend on childcare, education and transport for grandchildren. Create a volunteering programme, so that if older members of a family, parents or grandparents volunteer, then the children get free access to local leisure facilities such as swimming pools.

Charles Leadbetter advises companies, cities and governments on innovation. He is the author of several books, including "The Frugal Innovator" (Palgrave Macmillan)

This article was first published in the July 2015 issue of WIRED magazine